Online Advocacy Continues Gaining Momentum with 17 Percent Increase in 2011

Greater Than 29 Percent Growth Rate Experienced by Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife, and Jewish Vertical Sectors

Austin, Texas (April 3, 2012) —

Americans want their voices heard when it comes to issues about which they are passionate. Online advocacy actions grew at a solid 17 percent clip from 2010 to 2011, according to The Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study. The fastest growing sectors, each at more than 29 percent, are: Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife and Jewish. Advocacy actions are instances of sending some form of written communication to political leaders.

In addition to an increase in online advocacy, advocates are also quickly becoming financial supporters of the organizations they support, growing at a 24.6 percent rate – nearly four times the increase from 2010. The full Benchmark study can be found at www.convio.com/2012benchmark.

“The digital realm is changing the way nonprofits engage supporters to advocate around important issues,” said Vinay Bhagat, founder and chief strategy officer for Convio. “In the past, written letters and signed petitions were the norm. Not anymore. Social media and digital technologies allow concerned citizens to quickly add their voice to a cause or concern, and encourage friends and family to do the same via peer-to-peer engagement. Digital advocacy is a game changer in the political process and will certainly have an impact on this year’s Presidential election.”

Online advocacy has increased significantly in the last few years. In 2008, the Environment & Wildlife sector had the highest percentage of advocates in their email files at 11.72 percent. Today, Environment & Wildlife is at 24.65 percent. Other verticals are trending accordingly.

Key Advocacy Findings of the Study Include:

• Online legislative advocate counts grew by 17 percent: Overall, 75 percent of the verticals experienced more than 10 percent growth in their number of advocates.
• Animal Welfare, Environment & Wildlife, and Jewish grew the most: The verticals that experienced the greatest growth were Animal Welfare (30.12 percent), Environment & Wildlife (29.23 percent), and Jewish (29.21 percent).
• Donor advocates increased by 24.63 percent. This is nearly a fourfold increase from 2010 when the median change was 6.42 percent.

Methodology
This year’s study analyzes data compiled from more than 700 nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada that have at least 24 months of online usage data, and who collectively raised more than $1.22 billion online in 2011. The study aggregates results into benchmarks that nonprofit organizations can compare against their peer group and the industry as a whole. In addition, the study provides separate benchmarks for 19 nonprofit industry sub-groups, or verticals.

About Convio
Convio is a leading provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofit organizations to maximize the value of every relationship. With Convio constituent engagement solutions, nonprofits can more effectively raise funds, advocate for change and cultivate relationships with donors, activists, volunteers, event participants, alumni and other constituents. Convio offers two open, cloud-based constituent engagement solutions: Convio Common Ground® for small- and mid-sized nonprofits and Convio Luminate™ for enterprise nonprofits. Headquartered in Austin, Texas with offices across the United States and United Kingdom, Convio serves more than 1,600 nonprofit organizations globally. Convio is listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol CNVO.

Forward-looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements intended to convey expectations as to the future based on plans, estimates and projections. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, these statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions and the impact of a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in this press release including, among others: unfavorable economic and business conditions, in particular with respect to the nonprofit market in which we operate; challenges and risks relating to attracting and retaining customers; a loss of significant customers or a substantial reduction in orders from our existing customers; a reduction in usage of our systems by our customers or their clients and a corresponding reduction in usage revenue; an inability of customers to pay for our solutions and services; risks related to challenges associated with developing new and enhanced solutions that meet the needs of our clients; risks related to technological changes or alternative technologies that could make our products and services less competitive; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; risks associated with acquisitions and their integration; and the ability to attract and retain key personnel. Other risks that could impact our business adversely are those risks generally associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles; intellectual property infringement claims and other litigation; reliance on certain third-parties, including hosting facilities, software and application providers; the ability to access sufficient funding to finance desired growth and operations; and legislative actions which could reduce the effectiveness of our solutions and increase the costs of our business. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail, from time to time, in Convio’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which are available free of charge at www.sec.gov or on our website at www.convio.com/investor. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Convio does not undertake to update or revise any of these statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For more information: www.convio.com

Press Contact:
Karoline McLaughlin
Director, Corporate Communications
Convio, Inc.
kmclaughlin@convio.com
512-652-7865